The Pittsburgh Pirates have the best record in baseball

Pirates left fielder Starling Marte (center) and his teammates have had a lot to celebrate lately.
(Photo: Joe Nicholson, USA TODAY Sports)

Today’s Big Winner: The Pittsburgh Pirates

It’s not even the All-Star break yet, but with Wednesday’s 4-2 win over the Seattle Mariners, the Pittsburgh Pirates have now tied the St. Louis Cardinals for the lead in the NL Central and the best record in major leagues.

The 48-30 Pirates, who will take a six game winning streak into this weekend’s series versus the Milwaukee Brewers, finally appear poised to break their record-setting streak of 20 consecutive losing seasons, the most in North American professional team sports.

Like an abused shelter dog finally welcomed into a loving home, Pirates fans are still a little wary to trust this team, especially given the Pirates’ hot starts and dreadful August and September performances of the past two seasons.

But something feels different with this crew. Previous Pirates teams wouldn’t have found the way to rally from a three-run ninth inning deficit on the road like they did to beat the Angels on Sunday. With legitimate young bats Starling Marte, Andrew McCutchen and Pedro Alvarez and the emergence of starting pitchers Jeff Locke and 2011 first overall pick Gerrit Cole, the Pirates could be relevant in the fall for the first time since a certain formerly skinny home run king failed to throw out a geriatric Sid Bream at home plate.

Yes, it’s time for Pirates fans to get a more recent playoff memory. There’s still plenty of baseball left, but maybe this could finally be that year.